Combined grate



J. A. GREENE.

COMBINED GRATE, RADIATOR, AND VENTILATOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1919.

1,365,912. Patented Jan. 18, 1921.

, 2 SHEETS INVENTOR- John A Greene.

J. A. GREENE.

COMBINED GRATE, RADIATOR, AND VENTILATOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1919.

1,365,912. Patented Jan. 18,1921.

ZSHEETS-SHEET 2.

, mvsw'ron- John A Greene.

mms.

JOHN A. GREENE, 0] LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA.

COMBINED GRATE, RADIATOR, AND VENTILATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 12, 1919. Serial No. 387,446.

'1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jorm A. GREENE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Long Beach in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Grates Radiators, and Ventilators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fire places and has special reference to auxiliary heaters and ventilators of'the general type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,313,085, granted to me August 12, 1919. The present invention seeks to improve the construction andefficiency of the device and has for a particular ob]ect the provision of means whereby the heated currents arising from the fire will be prevented from passing directly into the smoke flue or chimney and will becaused to travel along the air flues or conduits instead of merely passing across the same so that the inflowing fresh air will be raised in temperature and there will be no loss of heat Within the fire place. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings-- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a fireplace having my improvements incorporated therein;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliaiiy heater and ventilator;

*igs. 3 and 4 are detail views illustrating different form of inlets.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, the reference numeral 1 indicates the floor of a room and 2 the wall thereof having a smoke flue 3 extending u wardl therethrough from a fireplace 4. n the oor of the fireplace, I preferably provide a grate 5 through which the ashes may readily pass to an ash pit in the cellar or basement and below the said grate an air inlet pipe 6 leads from a point outside the building into a horizontal transverse drum or head 7 which extends across the front of the fireplace and heater to be raised in tem erature. Adjacent the rear Wall of the fiieplace is a sec- 0nd horizontal transverse drum or head 14 and a plurality of air pipes or tubes 15 extend between the said drum and the front drum 7. The drum 1 1 is provided on its upper side at its front and rear edges with flanges 16 and between said flanges is provided with a plurality of openings or a lon- .gitudinally extending slot to permit the air entering the drum or head to pass into the upwardly extending air conduit which may consist of a sin le tubular member or a series of pipes. n the embodiment of the nvention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a plurallty of separate pipes or tubes 17 are shown and the lower ends of the said pipes or tubes are caused to register with openings in the top of the drum, fire clay or other refractory packing being filled inbetween the flanges 16 and around the lower ends of the tubes 17 to prevent leakage of the hot air. I have also shown an upper series of pipes or tubes 18 which extend between the front drum 7 and the vertical tubes or pipes 17 and communicate at their rear ends Wlth the lower ends of said tubes 17. The fire is kindled upon the upper tubes 18 and the air flowing through the same and also through the tubes 15 will be heated and caused to circulate so as to effect a draft through the air inlet pipe 6 which will draw a constant su ply of fresh air into the apparatus. While I prefer to employ the tubes 15 and 18 it is to be understood that the upper tubes may be omitted and the lower tubes 15 utilized to support the fuel and either arrangement may be employed as ma be desired. v

he air tubes or conduits 17 rise vertically from the rear drum 14 but are curved forwardly and lead into and communicate with a drum or head 19 which is disposed transversely of the fireplace immediately adjacent but spaced from the front wall thereof, and one or more discharge pipes 20 lead from the said drum through the front wall of the fireplace so that the heated air may be discharged into the room. This discharge pipe may be equipped with a damper or valve 21 to control the circulation as will be readily understood. Preferably a plurality of tubes or pipes 17 will be employed but I do not restrict myself to such detail. A plurality of smaller tubes is preferable for the reason that if the arched back air conduit should be Patented Jan. 18, 1921.

of considerable width it is exceedingly apt to fracture if subjected to heat for any considerable period and the smaller tubes are, therefore, more durable. To prevent the heated currents, rising from the fire, from flowing between and across the tubes 17 I provide a backing 25 of some refractory material, preferably fire clay which will close the spaces between the tubes and cover the entire back of the same. The tubes may be so disposed that they will be in actual contact with each other but the refractory backing should nevertheless be employed in order to furnish an additional support for the back conduit, to aid in retaining the shape of the same, and prevent loss of heat through passages between the tubes which may be enlarged or contracted according to variations in the temperature. The tubes may be square of triangular or of any other preferred cross sectional configuration and they may be integrally connected or separated as the individual users may prefer.

From the upper transverse head or drum l9, connecting tubes 28 rise and 'lead into a second drum or head 29 which is similar to the drum 19 but is spaced from the same and also from the front wall of the fireplace. A passage is thus provided for the smoke and other products of combustion so that said products may reach the smoke flue or chimney 3. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, fines 30 similar to the tubes 17 extend rearwardly and upwardly from the drum 29 to a similar rear drum 31 and these tubes may be covered with a backing 32 of fire clay, as shown. From the drum 31, a pipe 32' leads into another room so that the heated air may be discharged into the same.

The fines or tubes 15 or 18 are shown as straight parallel members but they may be so formed as to cause a tortuous circulation of the air admitted thereinto before the said air passes into the upwardly extending airconveying sections of the apparatus.

In Fig. 3, the inlet pipe-68 is led directly into the front drum 69 from which the horizontal air tubes 70 extend rearwardly and the valve 71 is located in the air inlet tube I below the drum. In Fig. 4, the air inlet pipe 71 extends into a drum 72 and one or more short Vertical tubes 7 3 lead from the drum 72 into an upper drum 74 from which the horizontal air tubes 7 5 extend rearwardly. The regulating valve 76 is located in the short vertical tubes 7 3 and it is to be understood that one or more of these vertical tubes 73 may be employed as may be desired.

It is to be understood that the upwardly extending air-conveying members may be formed entirely of the small tubes or pipes such as shown or in a box-like form and in 1,sces,e12

some instances both these forms may be combined as a portion of the back wall of the apparatus may be composed of small tubes and the remaining portion of the box-like structure. In all forms of the apparatus, however, the fire will be supported by the tubes 15 and 18, or either set of said tubes, and the heat rising from the fire will be caused to flow along the upwardly extendin;

conduits or tubes and will be prevented from flowing between or across the same to the back of the fireplace and thence passing directly to the chimney. One or more air inlet pipes may lead from the outside of the building to the front drum and the dampers or valves may be so adjusted as to eat off one or more of said pipes when a plurality of the same is employed. Assuming a plurality of fresh air pipes to lead from outside of the building to the front drum. the air from all said pipes will all be discharged into the drum and thence will be distributed through the rearwardly extend-- ing horizontal tubes or pipes which form the andirons or grate of the fireplace. It is obviously possible that the air entering through the various fresh air supply pipes may have different temperatures and these different temperatures will be equalized in the forward drum and hence the heat of the fire will be more advantageously utilized than would otherwise be the case. It is possible, of course, that the fire may not be evenly distributed upon the several fuel supporting sections and that the air flowing through some sections will be more highly or rapidly heated than the air flowing through other sections, but these differences of temperature will be equalized in the rear drum and will be more or less equalized in the ascent of the air through the upwardly extending conduits or tubes. Inasmuch as the upwardly extending conduits or tubes all discharge into a common drum or head av further equalization of the temperature is effected so that the air discharged into a room or rooms will be uniform in temperature. By my present construction, the heat of the fireplace is caused to play upon the air-conveying pipes throughout the length of the same and the fresh air drawn into the apparatus will be thoroughly heated.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. The combination of tubular firesupporting members to be disposed in the lower part of a fireplace, a drum extending across the front of the fireplace and communicating with and connected with said members, means for supplying fresh air to said drum, an alr-conveying member extending upwardly and forwardly from the back of and in communication with the tubular fire-supporting members, a drum at the front of and in communication with said air-conveying Hll moans wardly' and rearwardly extending air-con veying member leading from the last-mentioned drum, and means whereby heat currents will be forced to travel along the under sides of the air-conveying members and prevented from passing across said members.

2. The combination of a-drum disposed across the front of a fireplace, means for admitting outside air into said drum, means foradmitting air from the room into the drum, a valve controlling the admission of air, tubular fire-supporting members extending rearwardly from said drum within the fireplace, a drum disposed across the rear of the fireplace and connecting and communicating 'with said fire-supporting members, hot air conductors rising from said drum and extending forward to near the front of the fireplace at the top thereof, a drum connecting and communicating with the upper front ends of said conductors, means for discharging heated air from said drum into the room, conductors for conveying heated air from said drum to the back of the fireplace, and means for preventing heat currents from the fire escaping past any of the hot air conductors except at the higher ends thereof.

3. In combination with a fireplace, a drum disposed across the front of the fireplace near the bottom thereof, means for admitting air from a room into said drum, means for delivering outside air to said drum, valves controlling the flow of air into the drum, a second drum disposed across the back of the fireplace at the bottom of the same, fuel-supporting pipes connecting said drums and establishing communication between them, a drum disposed across the fireplace in the upper portion and near the top thereof, a hot air discharge pipe leading from the third drum through the wall of the fireplace, a hot air conveyer rising from the second-mentioned drum to the third drum, a refractory cover upon the back of said hot air conveyer and coterminous therewith, a fourth drum disposed across the fireplace, over the third drum, pipes connecting the third and fourth drums, a hot air conveyer extending upwardly and rearwardly from the fourth drum, a refractory cover upon the top of said hot air conveyer and coterminous therewith, and means for discharging hot air from said conveyer into a room.

In testimon whereof I afiix mg signature.

J HN A. GREEN [1 s.] 

